Freer placement of devices

More efficient wireless charging with Qi2.1: Finds the phone if it's misplaced

In the upcoming update of the wireless charging standard QI2, it will not be as important to place your device perfectly.

Ove Kaufeldt

Published 14 January 2025 - 09:46

Despite the fact that wireless charging has become very widespread, the new generation QI2 has not really taken off even though it was introduced two years ago.

However, this has not stopped the Wireless Power Consortium (WPC), the global organization that develops and standardizes wireless charging, from continuing development. They have now introduced version QI2.1.

One of the innovations with QI2 is the ability to use magnets to correctly position the device to be charged on the coils in the charger that handle the charging. This is a feature found in Apple's Magsafe standard. Correctly positioning the device is very important because the better positioned the device is, the more efficient the charging becomes and less heat is generated.

With QI2.1, they have taken somewhat of a sideways step regarding the placement of the coils, and instead of using magnets, the charger detects the device's position and then moves the coils to match the device to be charged.

The technology called “QI2 Ready” is developed by Panasonic Automotive Systems with vehicles in mind, specifically for vehicles that have a wireless charging station in the center console. The idea is that users should be able to place their phone anywhere on the pad and have the coil move into place to effectively charge the device. When the device then slides in the center console, the coil in the charger will follow and adjust even for very small movements.

The charger sends a small pulse to find the device to be charged and then uses a “detection array” to calculate where the coil is. Once this has been determined, the charging coil is moved into place and charging begins.

When devices with QI2.2 and QI2 Ready will hit the market is currently unknown.